Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is generating huge volumes of gas and oil from U.S. shale by cracking underground rocks, allowing hydrocarbons to seep upward. That’s creating a glut that has driven down world oil prices by more than 50% since mid-2014. But outside North America, oil companies have had little success re-creating the fracking boom. Here’s why. Read More »

Unlike the oil rushes in California and Texas of the early 20thcentury that bequeathed a small number of immense wells in remote fields, this latest hydrocarbon surge has taken place largely in America’s backyards, the Journal’s Russell Gold and Tom McGinty report.

Across the country, new oil and gas wells have turned millions of people into the petroleum industry’s neighbors. Read More »